


Heart Of The Rebellion

by Mountainside_possum



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alexsandr Kallus Needs A Hug, Fulcrum, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, Short & Sweet, Yearning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28252584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mountainside_possum/pseuds/Mountainside_possum
Summary: This is based on a prompt posted by fangirlingpuggle on Tumblr, go check that Tumblr out! To quote the prompt, "So what if in Zero Hour although the signal was blocked the message kept recording (non-scrambled) and everyone heard the entire confrontation?" This prompt really stuck with me for some reason, so I decided to give it a short try.
Relationships: Alexsandr Kallus & Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Heart Of The Rebellion

Thrawn’s goal had been to scramble the message, to keep ex-ISB agent Kallus from providing anymore aid to the heavily motivated rebellion. And while, yes, the initial message had been stopped; Thrawn had committed one deadly flaw. Communication devices automatically recorded until their signal could be sent out across the stars, the information decoding and recoding over and over inside the manuscript until finally it could have a recipient. Perhaps, in an act of forgetful nature, or in Thrawn’s rush to be correct; he had not sabotaged these sections of the device. So when the one sided battle with Alexsandr had ended, and he had professed his heartfelt desire to work with the rebellion, the device did it’s job. 

_Heart of a rebel._

His voice, unaltered, confessed to a full trade of allegiances. Across the galaxy, in the small hollows where Rebel forces lie in wait, his words forced into the minds of those hopeful few. The broken, the lonely, the beaten. Alexsandr Kallus, ISB Agent Kallus, had joined the rebellion. He was dying for it, perhaps as they listened, he was being tortured. Yet, across the galaxy; one question rang present. If an ISB Agent could join the rebellion, then who couldn’t? 

\----------------

“Hera” 

“No way, Zeb.” Her voice was stern, filled with urgency and fear. The message sent out by the dying ex-agent had been a warning of what was to come. Thanks to that man, the unlikely ally, they had hope and time to escape Chopper base. 

“Hera, if we don’t...He’s dead.” Zeb grabbed onto the twi’lek’s arm, his voice shaky and full of alarm. He had saved Kallus once, kept him warm and thawed out the agent's heart from the frozen state the Empire had put it in through years of indoctrination. “We have to go back for him.” 

She pulled away her arm, those motherly eyes glancing around at her crew. The alarm from Kallus, no, Alexsandr, had been sent out ahead of Thrawn’s advance. By the time the chiss arrived, Chopper Base would be all but abandoned. “Zeb, he’s done what he can. It’s up to us to use his gift, the warning.” She marched her way inside of the cock-pit, the Ghost surrounded by other rebel forces ready to make their second jump into hyperspace. Luckily, with the early warning a desperate battle had been avoided. 

“So, we’re gonna let him die?” Zeb sounded like he was about to cry, which was a state very few of the crew had heard. Kanan had heard it once, when Zeb talked about Lasan and his failure against the Imperial forces. “He _saved_ us, Hera. Thrawn is gonna kill him!” 

“Zeb.” Kanan’s voice spoke, sounding hesitant yet attempting comfort. “She’s right, we don’t know where he is. It’s doubtful they even kept him on Lothal, we’d need to find where he’s being held.” A delicate hand rested against the lasat’s shoulder, Kanan attempting to use the force to ripple out waves of comfort and warmth. He’d done for Ezra on nights when the padawan’s nightmares were too violent, 

Zeb sighed, giving up on the argument. He’d never admit it, but they were right. Unless they had a plan, Kallus was as good as lost. _Kal, you admitted it yourself, you have the heart of a rebel. Please figure out how to get back to me._ Hopefully, Zeb prayed to himself. That man was a survivor, if anything. Certainly he could survive whatever Thrawn’s men think could break him. “Fine, but…” Zeb was unsure of what he wanted to add, it was unclear if he would never see Kallus again. His anger began to boil over into guilt. 

Days passed, and the rebellion had successfully avoided any tracking back to Yavin four. The rebel frequency was still filled with what was thought to be the last moments of Alexsandr Kallus’s life, with no one able to turn off the transmitter. Parts of his message, and desperate fight against Thrawn, had become part of rebel calls. With one successful battle in Wild Space had been led by the battle cry ‘Heart of a rebel’. 

Zeb found it almost ironic, if Kallus knew how much his message meant to the rebellion he’d probably call it unnecessary. Zeb had thought over his moments spent with the human, the moments spent on that icy moon. Though it had been a fight for survival, those shared conversations had meant something to Zeb. Waiting was a restless process, especially with how clearly the two youngest crew members of the Ghost were teasing him over the message. While most of the rebellion had taken the phrase ‘Heart of a rebel’ at face value, those two had twisted it’s meaning. Teased him on Kallus ‘having his heart’.

\----------

Not being allowed on the rescue mission killed Zeb, it made him pace back and forth in the air space no matter what he did to calm himself. Kallus’s words just replayed loudly in his mind, over and over again no matter what he did for distraction. Mon Mothma had claimed he’d be too ‘emotionally charged’ to rescue Kallus from the prison transport that the rebel intelligence had tracked him to, it was a claim harsh enough to make Zeb storm out of the meeting room. The other Spectors had jumped on the opportunity, racing off in their trusty craft. Less for Kallus, and more for Zeb. 

Finally, the aching in his chest calmed at the sight of their trusty craft reentering the airspace above the craft. He hurried towards the landing zone, watching the loading dock lower against the soil. “Kal…” His voice spoke with question, with promise. 

Standing in front of the lasat, with overgrown blonde hair and a skeletal frame, bruised pale skin, and a bloodshot set of eyes was Alexsandr. Zeb had limited knowledge of human health, but he could assume that this was not what humans were supposed to look like. “Thrawn was right…” Zeb approached him, carefully smiling and drawing the human into a hug. “You do have the heart of a rebel.” 

Below him, Zeb could feel a weak shaking chuckle leave the human. He could even swore he heard him reply, heard him say…

_“I’ll take that as a complement.”_

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, and May The Force Be With You! 
> 
> Twitter: @imperialsimp  
> Tumblr: mountainsidepossum


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